


V .1- 




















^^-V'. 

















^ ov^^i^'- '^tu.cJ^" ^:m^r^\ "^^^^ ^<^^S\ ^o'^ 







» • • A 



•• J" o. '."m^,'- „o ' "-* '? 







V .•'• 












V , i ' . 



• '^^ '^^ ♦> 

• fCVVVs-^'^ *-? 




/ %'W^\<p v-^*/ "°^*^^'y 



^■- V.r :'Sm\ %..^^ :':M£\ X.^'T •'« 




^^^ 



'Ij^^- 






^. '<. . » 



':^o^ 




^oV^ 



>■ .^^-n^. 







o,. %Trr.* ^0^ ^.'-^'^^'^Z 




)^ \.^'.% 












^bv"" 






r- -^*o< ;. 






^:^'=.• 



V"^^ 






• • » \ ' 







^. 



0^ '^^^'-oTo' a"^ 



:*^°<. 














"hy 







'V * o » o ' -^"^ 




v-o^ 








o- */1XT» A 



'A' 



If .' sg 



Mrt)* iWr» JJ«ilfre»^fii Sttnton 



ON THE DEATH OP 



HON. JOHN PHILLIPS. 



SERMON 

PREACHED TO 

THE SOCIETY IN BRATTLE SQUARE, 

jtriTE 8th, 1823 ; 

THE lord's day after THE INTERMENT 

OF THE LATE 

HON. JOHN PHILLIPS. 



BY JOHN G. PALFREY, A. M. 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN BRATTLE SQUARE. 



e. 



^ BOSTON : 

PRINTED BY MUNROK AND FRANCIS. 
1823. 



TO THE WIDOW AND CHILDREN 



OF THE LATE HON. JOHN PHILLIPS, 



THIS SERMON, 



PRINTED AT THEIR REQUEST, 



IS INSCRIBED 



IN TESTIMONY OF THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION OF 



THE AUTHOR. 



SERMON. 



Proverbs x. 7. 

THE MEMORY QV THE JUST IS BLESSED. 

The grateful recollection of good men departed, 
to which these words refer, is as much authorized 
by right reason, as it is prompted by good feelings. 
If it be natural and reasonable to return benefits 
with benedictions, what is there that better claims 
a blessing from us, than the memory of the just ? 
for, of all which we possess that is valuable, how 
large a part do we owe to just men who survive no 
longer on earth except in memory. In the com- 
mon course of events, it is to the silent congrega- 
tion of the dead that the grateful recollections of 
our mature life must follow them who protected 
our childhood ; to whom our affections in their 
earliest exercise attached themselves ; who were 
our earliest guides and examples. In the invaria- 
ble course of events, the generation that is, is inti- 
mately connected with the generations that have 
been, and the living have cause to bless or upbraid 



6 

the departed. Men act on the world much longer 
than they Hve in it. They are " brought to the 
grave, and shall remain in the tomb," but their im- 
mortal example survives them in history ; or their 
character has impressed its own stamp upon that of 
others, who shall mould in their turn the manners 
of the coming age, and transmit the strengthening 
influence to remoter times ; or the sentiment which 
they have originated, — digested, and familiarized, 
and wrought by degrees into the current system of 
opinion, — assumes at length a palpable shape in 
some modification of the employments or manners 
of society, perhaps in a radical change of its consti- 
tution. Thus, though " they rest from their la- 
bours," their works do not all follow them. There 
is " no device" indeed, " nor knowledge, nor wisdom 
in the grave whither they go," but the lasting fruit 
of them remains ; and still, though not in person, 
yet in agency, they have " a portion in all that is 
done under the sun." — Our minds are powerfully 
excited by the relations of those who have passed 
through the still streets of excavated cities, and 
seen the structures of ancient generations standing 
as firm and fresh, as if but yesterday they resounded 
for the last time with the din of the gay and busy 
multitudes that have been dust for centuries. But, 
in truth, we live in the midst of grander remains of 
departed men. They established those habits and 
institutions of society, which have determined the 



objects of our attachment and ambition, and fur- 
nished the occupations of our hves. They matured 
that disciphne, by which our characters have been 
formed. Their thoughts have been our intellect- 
ual nourishment. It is at the blaze of their glory 
that our enthusiasm is kindled. It is the laws 
which they have elaborated that secure to us the 
comforts they have bequeathed ; and the sciences 
they have arranged, and the arts, they have con- 
trived, are what make us capable of enlarging the 
store. 

If the influence of the dead upon the living, 
whatever be its tendency, be so permanent and 
strong, how reasonable is it to bless the memory of 
the just ! If a vicious example or a corrupt senti- 
ment may be the fruitful root of so much lasting mis- 
chief, how worthy to be had in grateful remembrance 
they who have lived for the credit of religion, and 
the best interests of society ; who, in being " devi- 
sers of liberal things," advocates of wise counsels, 
promoters of good objects, and patterns of princi- 
pled conduct, have exerted, to the extent of their 
opportunities, a salutary influence on the condition 
and character of their own and of succeeding times. 
How especially worthy of a blessing is their mem- 
ory, if they have done this with the advantages of 
eminence and notoriety; if they have faithfully 
employed the influence of high station to recom- 
mend the virtues which belong alike to all. And 



8 

if, yet more, the possession of such advantages, and 
the disposition so to use them, has been transmitted, 
as if, by inheritance, through a course of genera- 
tions, — if, in the retrospect of the fortunes of a 
period of years, a Hne of such men can be traced 
along the path of usefulness and honour back to 
the very point where there was first a community 
for them to serve, what is wanting, to secure to 
the name they bore, that community's warm and 
hearty blessing ? Will the severest enemy of an- 
cestral distinctions regard an eminence like this 
with any other feelings than those of respect and 
gratitude ? It is the happiness of our common- 
wealth to have known such citizens, and, blessed be 
God, the good influences of their lives, as well as the 
sepulchres of their ashes, '• are with us unto this 
day." Their bodies have mouldered in her holy 
soil ; but their wisdom has been embodied in her 
institutions, and their spirit has been transfused into 
her character. Among the honourable names thus 
consecrated to patriotick remembrance, it may be 
there are those which are associated with single 
actions or events more imposing ; but there is none 
which designates a race that, from the foundation 
of our commonwealth, has been seen standing more 
uniformly true to the post of duty, — that has given 
more exemplary citizens or magistrates to the state, 
or better Christians and pastors to the church, — 
that has been signalized by a more splendid pa- 



tronage of learning, or a more faithful, consistent, 
and serriceable devotion to all good objects, than 
that, to which the atflicting providence of God calls 
us to add, to the many which have been paid it 
in times past, another tribute of atl'ectionate res- 
pect. Blessed be the memory of upright, wise, 
pure, liberal, Christian men ! And now that anoth- 
er of that venerated line is gathered to his fathers, 
— now that no longer the eye that sees him shall 
bless him, nor the ear that hears him bear approv- 
ing witness to him, — now that his memory only is 
left us to bless, — it will not be thought an employ- 
ment foreign to the religious purpose of our assem- 
bling in the house of God. to attend to some of the 
facts which authorize his being ranked among the 
just whose memorv is blessed : and excite our- 
selves, by the hoj^e of being so remembered, to the 
imitation of whatever there was in him to justify 
the blessing we bestow. 

The family, which has just been bereft of one of 
the most distinguished servants it has ever given to 
the communitv, derives its American origm from 
George Phillips, first pastor of the church in Wa- 
tertown, who is commemorated bv the author of 
the Magnalia as " among the first saints of *New 

* His life is giren in theMa^alia, book 3d, page S2. Before he came 
from Ensrland. he was settled in the ministry- at Boxford ia Essex. He 
arrived at Salem in 1630 with Governour Winthrop,. in the Arbella and 
was settled in the same year at Watertown, where he remained till his 
death, Julv 1st, 1644. Gor. Winthrop, in his Journal, calls him " a 
godly man, specially gided, and very peaceful in his place, much lament- 
ed of his own people and others '" 
o 



10 

England. His son, minister of Rowley,* was 
grandfather, of Samuel Phillips, minister of Ando- 
ver,t from whom have descended two lieutenant- 
governours of the commonwealth, besides other 
individuals eminent in civil life ;J and of John Phil- 

* Of the life and character of Samuel Phillips, minister of Rowley, I do 
Hot know that any particulars are recorded. Mather calls his father, 
'■ Vir incomparabilis, nisi Samuelem genuisset." 

t The father of the minister of Andover, and of Col. Phillips of Boston, 
was an inhabitant of Salem, and was son, and not brother, as Dr. Allen 
(Biog. Diet. Art. Phillips, Samuel) supposes, of the minister of Rowley. 
Samuel Phillips of Andover was one of the most eminent divines of his 
time. There are several publications of his extant. 

t Hon. Samuel Phillips, of Andover, was son of the clergyman of that 
place. He was a member of the house of representatives and of the 
council of the commonwealth, and the founder, with the aid of his broth- 
ers, of the academy in Andover which bears his name. His son was the 
late lieutenant-governour Samuel Phillips of Andover. This gentleman 
came into publick life, as representative from his native town, four years 
after he left the University in 1771, and continued in it till his death in 
1802. He was a member of the convention in the county of Essex, 
whose measures led to the calling of the state convention which flamed 
our present constitution. In this latter body he had also a seat, and, when 
the constitution proposed by it went into operation, was elected to the 
.senate. He was president of that body from 1785 to 1801, when he was 
advanced to the office of lieutenant-governour. He died in the following 
year. He was a doctor of laws, and one of the founders of the academy 
of arts and sciences. He was a gentleman of distinguished abilities, great 
popularity and influence, and approved CJiristian character. He con- 
tributed liberally to the funds of the academies in Andover and Exeter, 
and left by his will a considerable sum to religious charities. 

Another son of the minister of Andover was Hon. John Phillips, of 
Exeter, (N. H.) the principal founder of the academy in that place, which 
he established in 1781 with an endowment of fifteen thousand pounds, and 
to which at his death he bequeathed two-thirds of his estate. The remain- 
ing til ird he left to the academy at Andover, to which he had already giv- 
en twenty thousand dollars, besides the aid which he had contributed to 
the original endowment by his brother. He was a doctor of laws, and 
several years member of the council of New Hampshire. 

William Phillips, Esq. of Boston was another son of the Rev. Samuel 
Phillips of Andover. He was at different times a member of the house of 



11 

lips, who was a deacon of this church, representa- 
tive of the town In the general court In the years 
1760, 1761, and 1762,* and colonel of the Boston 
regiment. From him, In the second generation, 

representatives and of the senate of the commonwealth, of the convention 
which drafted the state constitution, and of that wliich adopted the con- 
stitution of the United States. Among other liberal benefactions, he gave 
four thousand dollars to the academy at Andover. He was the father of 
his Honour William Phillips of Boston, late lieutenant-governour. 

* He died April 19th, 1763. In one of the publick papers of the da^', 
he is said to have been " a gentleman who from principles of virtue and 
true humanity, employed all his time in doing good : who with uncommon 
pleasure and indefatigable diligence, devoted himself to the service of the 
community, and the real interests of private persons who needed his as- 
sistance : His inflexible integrity gained and secured him the confidence, 
and his amiable condescension and tenderness the affectionate esteem of 
all : He was never so happy as in promoting some benevolent purpose 
for the happiness of others, or in relieving distress : He sustained the im- 
portant trusts with which he was invested with becoming dignity, and 
discharged the duties resulting from each to universal acceptance. In 
private life, his virtues were truly respectable and worthy imitation : His 
piety and humilitj' endeared him to his heavenly Father ; His tempe- 
rance, sincerity, moderation, and patience made his own breast the seat of 
peace : while his charity and domestick virtues rendered him amiable, and 
all around him happy : As his mind was ever under the influence of true 
and undefiled religion, and his powers employed with unabated fervour 
in the offices of humanity, so he could think of his dissolution with peace 
and serenity ; and in the hour of his departure was truly happy in the 
reflection that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not by carnal wisdom, 
but by the grace of God, he had his conversation in the world ; and more 
so in the hopes of his acceptance with God and of his perfection and fe- 
licity when he should arise in His image, and have an open and an abun- 
dant entrance administered to him in the presence of His Eternal Light 
and ineflable Glory." 

His son William was a merchant in Boston. He died Jan. 4th, 1773, 
set. 34, leaving two daughters and two sons, one of whom died at an early 
age. The other was the late Hon. John Phillips, who was born Nov. 26fh, 
1770. 



n 

Avas descended the distinguished individual wliom 
we lament. At the age of seven he was placed for 
his education at the academy in Andover which 
bears his family name ; and for the seven years 
following was an inmate of the Christian home of 
the late Lieutenant-Governour Phillips of that 
place, from whose character the thorough venera- 
tion, which he was always in the habit of express- 
ing for it, makes it probable that his own took a 
powerful bias. At the University, to which he was 
removed at the end of that period, he is described 
by his cotemporaries, as having been distinguished, 
not more for such powers and accomplishments of 
BTiinJ as that a^j^e is capable of exhibiting, than for 
that honourable submission to authority, which is 
generally found to be in the young a preparation 
for being intrusted with it in maturer life, and at 
least saves them from those severer lessons of sub- 
ordination, which the discipline of society enforces 
with heavy penalties of disgrace and loss on those 
who come untaught to its school. On leaving the 
University, he devoted himself to the study of the 
law in this place,^ and soon after entering on the 
practice was appointed publick prosecutor for the 
county. At the establishment of the municipal 
court in 1800, he was chosen by the people the 
first town advocate, and was annually re-elected to 

* Mr. Phillips pursued his professional studies under the direction of 
Hon. Thomas Dawes, lately Judge of the Municipal Court, and now Judge 
of Probate. 



13 

this office till he declined it. In 1809 he was ap- 
pointed to the bench of the Court of Common 
Pleas. In the legislative branch of the government 
of the city and commonwealth, he was called to yet 
more distinguished trusts. After representing the 
town in the lower house of legislation in the year 
1803, he was elected during twenty years succes- 
sively to the senate, and presided in that body from 
the year 1813 till the present. On the change of 
the municipal government, he was selected for the 
critical task of making the first experiment with a 
system new to the acquaintance, and, as far as then 
appeared, uncongenial in some degree with the 
habits, of his constituents ; to the operation of 
which indefinite expectations were attached, and a 
jealous observation directed. Besides sustaining 
these eminent publick trusts, various institutions, 
benevolent, commercial, and literary, and among 
them the University, lament their loss of the ad- 
vantages of his highly estimated integrity and 
wisdom.* 

' Mr. Phillips died May 29th, a few minutes before 9 o'clock, A. M. 
of a disorder of the heart, the effects of which had appeared several times 
during the year, and which terminated in a partial ossification. He had 
attended in his place in the senate the day before, and taken the lead in the 
organizing of that body, and had afterwards been present at the publick 
religious services. In the course of the night he was so unwell as to re- 
quire medical aid, but his symptoms were not thought immediately alarm- 
ing, and in the morning he seemed to be relieved, till the spasm took 
place which instantly terminated his life. He was, at his decease. Presi- 
dent of the Manufacturers' and Mechanicks" bank, Vice-President of the 
Provident Institution for Savings, a Trustee of the Andover Academy, 
and a director of other corporations. 



14 

The most honourable sohition is to be given of 
the singular fortune, which thus attended him, in 
being for so long a period called to such responsi- 
ble stations, and each more responsible than the 
last, in a community where popular sentiment fluc- 
tuates with so little regularity that only the most 
delusive calculations are founded on it. He was 
trusted because he was known to be trust-worthy. 
It was felt that the publick interests were safe 
with him, for he was incapable of being bribed, 
duped, or alarmed into an unfaithfulness to them. 
No man brought to a sphere of duty a more unbi- 
assed judgment to determine on the right course ; 
and no man maintained the part he had taken with 
a more steady resolution, a more watchful pru- 
dence, or, at the same time, a better temper. He 
shrunk from no task because it was unpleasant, em- 
barrassing, or hazardous ; and he deserted none be- 
cause it was discouraging. He was conciliating, be- 
cause it was seen that he was disinterested, consid- 
erate and candid, not because his course was unsta- 
ble, or its character ever doubtful. In that period 
of great anxiety and excitement, in the midst of 
which he was raised to the presidency of the sen- 
ate, he stood prominent among those on whom rests 
the responsibility of the decided measures adopted 
by this commonwealth ; and then, as at all times, 
shewed himself as little liable to be charged with 
duplicity or lukewarmness, as with either virulence 



15 

or rashness. Nor was it his moral quahfications 
alone which fitted him for the part he sustained in 
our deliberative assemblies. In debate he deliver- 
ed his sentiments with great readiness, propriety, 
clearness, and force, and the influence, which the 
weight of his character secured to them, was aided 
by a very manly and impressive manner ; and the 
dignity, promptness, and courtesy with which he 
presided, were often testified in cordial terms, which 
show the acknowledgment to have been less a for- 
mality, than a tribute, well earned and cheerfully 
paid, of the unanimous respect and good will of men 
whom scarcely any other sentiment could unite. 

If we follow this eminent man from that sphere 
where he was most extensively to that where he 
was most intimately known, we find him exhibiting 
the same virtues in a greater variety of aspects and 
relations, and in union with others, for which, 
though certainly not less important to their posses- 
sor, publick stations afford no exercise. None that 
have lived within the circle where his character in 
private life cowld be understood, need to learn from 
me how he was respected as the exemplary citizen, 
— sought as the affable and improving associate, — es- 
teemed as the obliging neighbour, — confided in and 
venerated as the arbitrator of dissensions and the 
counsellor of peace, — beloved as the faithful, active 
friend ; that the desponding or the modest never 
wanted the kind encouragement which he had op 



16 

portiuiity to give, nor the embai'rassed ever joiiijht 
his prudent advice in rain. But it is in that most 
limited sphere of all, where even man*? virtue? 
are most fullv tried, and most imjx>rtant to others, 
that he is held in the most approving as well as 
most teixier reraembnuice. The disiinguished ma- 
gistrate ami honoured citizen was ret better distirt- 
giiished as the ajfectionate husband, the watchful 
and indulgent father, the most dutiful ami attentive 
son : and provideix-e. in just preserving him to 
commit his venerated parent* to the tomb, seems 

* Mr. Phillifvs'* uioiher «a5 a >!>'.er ot" the iato Juice WeudfU. Sbf 
difd oa the £Tth o:" Febniary Ust. at the ace oi" S4 Sb..- wi> a Udj ft 
iBKoaimou poaer> ot' luiud ^wbk'h she tvtainexi to a late periled of her 
fltaess) and >m" nickSt fervent pietj. Tke eiabAnay>ed stAte ot" her hus- 
buid's afiGurs at the time of her earlr *ruio«hv.>cs:i. lert her to strojiie 
vitk aanr dificnfaies, and it was at the cost ot' uo corumou exeriioas and 
sacattces, that she UROtd the obieci of educiitiajr her >.>b. The renard 
of ber parental cares was as r em a rk able as their adelitv. A oaore devo- 
ted son perhaps nerer made a parent happr. I will bwt mentioB, 
ite oae instaace, ttet fer jrears bcl«re ber deatk ska was in the habit of 
receivi^ two or three visits fiom kim each daj ; aod ia the aiidsl of his 
varioas paUick daties, aa omissioo of this was so obouumo, that some 
cztiaardiaaTj occurrence was alwav? imajined to account for it. Mr. 
ffcatiyr told me, that at one ot' the last inierriews (I thiak the last) at 
vhi^ she was able to sastaia a coaaected coaTersation, on the ocx'asion 
of soaie assurance from him that hev directioas should be strictlv t'oUow- 
•d aflnr h«r death, she raised herself, aad addressing him in a maaoer of 
the OMist BMirked solemnity, chared him to remember thca the manj 
oadks he had taken. Tlie followia; extract, which 1 am permitted to 
add, from a hasty letter addres-sed by hrtn beK>re his mother's biirial to a 
joaa^ son of his, absent ai school, cxhibiu some view at once of his 
filial and his pater aal feelins:s : — 

*• She had Kved a loo^ and very exemplary lite, but the near approach 
of that period when she must appear in the presence of her M«ker and ber 
Judfe filled her miad with awe and dread. She ur^ed upon bs aU, and 



It 

to have designed that he should live to complete a 
filial example of such singular excellence. 

But I feel that I am trespassing on ground which 
feelings, too sacred to be intruded on, claim for their 
own : and I leave this most interesting, but scarce- 
ly permitted topick to add to the delineation of the 
character of our lamented fellow-woi-shipper, that 
trait which explains its other good qualities, and 
was the basis of them all. He was a sincere and 
humble disciple of Jesus Christ. His mind did 

frequently, the indispensable importance of preparing tor the great chansjc 
of worlds. Now, uiy dear son, you have not received the benefit which 
1 trust the actual riew of your expirinir g-randparent would have produ- 
ced ; yet you may recollect all the adtn«niiions aud advice she has given 
you. She daily carried you in the arms of faith and prayer to the throne 
of g^race. This she no more does in this world. Pray therefore daily to 
God for his blessings and direction in every pursuit. Read your Bible 
also every day, and tVequently repeat those hymns which you have com- 
mitted to meuuuy . It irave her sjreat comtoit and support in the near 
view of death to repeat such hymns as she had probably learned more 
than seventy years since. You may be called in a short time. If pre- 
pared, it cannot be too soon. In the mean time, Providence has directed 
us while on earth to be actire and dilij^ent in the discharve of duty. Ap- 
ply yourself therefore to your studies closely, that, if your life shall be 
prolonged, you may occupy some situation in which you may benetit so- 
ciety, and promote your own welfare The most important hours are now 
passing, both as respects the present and the future life. Be studious, be 
virtuous, and God will bless you." 

In her religious opinions Mrs. Phillips professed herself a Calvinist. tu 
the frequent conversations which I had with her during her last illness 
and before, she was very taithful to hef own sentiments, and very for- 
bearing to mine. When I saw her at what she supposed would be the 
last time, she took my hand, and giving^ me her blessing, prayed that I 
might join with her hereafter in the worship of the Father, the Sou. and 
Holy Ghost 



18 

homage to the truths of the Gospel, his heart to its 
spirit, his Hfe to its dictates. His faith was ration- 
al, scriptural, firm, and efficacious. He was regu- 
lar and devout in the services of publick and of 
family worship, and, for several years before his 
death, walked blameless in the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord with this church ; — a ser- 
viceable friend to it, as well as a distinguished or- 
nament.* His attachment to our ancient religious 
institutions was very strong ; and, among the occa- 
sions on which he took a prominent part in the late 
convention for revising the constitution of the com- 
monwealth, there is none which appears so much 
to have interested him as the project of those 
changes, the consequence of which he feared might 
be to impair the religious character of our peo- 
ple.! . His political wisdom and his Christian expe- 
rience disposed him to regard religious education 
as the indispensable basis of the prosperity of those 
coming generations, for whose welfare he felt him- 
self to be commissioned to consult ; and that senti- 
ment, so worthy alike of the statesman and the 
Christian, which he expressed at his inauguration 
to the first municipal office, was a sentiment among 
the most familiar to his mind. " Purity of man- 

* In 1818 he was chosen one of its deacons, but he felt himself not 
authorized to accept an office which could not be discharged without a 
greater expense of time and attention than his numerous engagements 
left at his disposal. 

t Journal of Debates and Proceedings, &.c. pp. 86, 94, 190, 205. 



19 

hers and strict attention to the education of the 
young," he said, " above all, a firm practical belief of 
that divine revelation, which has affixed the penal- 
ty of unceasing anguish to vice, and promised to 
virtue rewards of interminable duration, will coun- 
teract the evils of any form of government." 

I have thus endeavoured, my friends, to exhibit 
some traits, to the reality of which all our minds 
bear witness, of a man whom we believe we have 
reason to rank among those righteous who ought 
to be had " in everlasting remembrance." I trust 
that I have done it under a proper sense how un- 
becoming it would be to extol the dead in this place 
for any other purpose than that of profiting the 
living. But a Christian minister does but follow 
apostolick example* when he makes the virtues of 
good men a topick of religious encouragement, and, 
by an exhibition of the worth and attraction of 
their characters, recommends the principles upon 
which they were formed. They are imperfect^ 
because human examples, and therefore must not 
limit the exertions which they prompt ; but, as 
far as they are suited to guide and excite us, we 
are not to forego their aid, but to enforce on our- 
selves the obligation of profiting by it to the ut- 
most. And the grateful recollection in which they 
are held, besides giving permanency to their exam- 

* 1 Cor. iv. 16. xi. I. Phil. iii. 17. Heb. vi. 11, 12. aiii. 7. James 
V. 10. 



20 

pie, adds greatly to the power which it possesses 
over our minds. A regard to the name we shall 
leave behind us is a strong and natural senti- 
ment ; too much so to be overlooked by that re- 
ligion* which neglects not to appeal to any deep 
feeling of the heart. The motive to a good life 
thence derived is not indeed among the most power- 
ful which the scriptures urge ; but yet it is one which 
operates to the whole extent of its power in har- 
mony with others more peculiarly religious ; and 
one too, which, like them, is capable of universal ap 
plication. The hope of being gratefully remem- 
bered by men will lead to the same course of 
conduct as the hope of being approved of God. 
It is essentially different from that vain expec- 
tation of what is called posthumous fame, which, 
regarding as it does not approbation but applause, 
excites not to worthy but to striking actions, and 
which is no more likely to be indulged by the truly 
great man, than by him who erroneously supposes 
himself to be so. The hope of leaving a name, 
which men will not wonder at but bless, must be 
founded on the consciousness of that character, 
which religion prescribes, and to the forming of 
which a discipline is necessary, that excludes all 
extravagant self-esteem. And, as to every one 
there is a sphere, greater or less, in which he de- 

* Job xviii. 17. Ps. ix. 5, 6. cix. 16. cxii. 6. Prov, x. 7. Ec. viii. 
!0. Luke i. 48. 



21 

sires to be remembered with approbation, this is a 
motive which may be addressed to every mind. 
The reason why it is commonly enforced by instan- 
ces of men distinguished by the high trusts or ex- 
tensive influence they have exercised, is merely 
that their example is more conspicuous and attrac- 
tive, and not that eminent goodness is confined to 
eminent station, or that their memory alone is bles- 
sed who have been able to transmit a memorial of 
themselves in the publick events of their times. 
If we would be remembered with the just, it must 
be because, whether in the same or in a different 
sphere, we have acted on like principles with them. 
It is not all the external distinctions that gratitude 
ever collected to do them honour, were all these 
ours, that will cause us to be remembered with 
them. Men extol and flatter us for many other 
things, but they will bless our memory for nothing 
but our virtues. They have task enough in life in 
doing homage to good fortune. They dispense 
themselves from doing honour to any thing depart- 
ed but worth. They bless the memory of none but 
the just. The beautiful and the witty they caress, 
but do not gratefully remember. They are so 
prodigal in burning incense to the rich and 
mighty while they live, that they can spare no balm 
to keep their memory from corruption ; and the last 
shout of applause that shall ever hail the popular, 
is hushed by the time the organ that drank it in is 



22 

insensible. And the memory of the just they bless 
only because they were just. The honours, which 
declared the publick sense of the merits of a great 
and good man, have ceased to attract veneration to 
him as soon as he begins to be remembered. The 
interest which has been felt in them, habitual and 
exciting as it long has been, is left behind by the 
procession which turns away from his grave, and 
the reflections which accompany each mourner as 
he returns thoughtful to his home, dwell not on his 
successes and distinctions, but only on the virtues 
which acquired and justified them. 

And do we not desire, my hearers, to leave be- 
hind us a memory which they who shall sur- 
vive us may bless ? Is not every one of us grate- 
ful for the comfort experienced by the mourning 
family, with whom we sympathize, in the thought 
that him whom the mysterious providence of God 
permits them in future only to remember, they may 
remember with so cordial a blessing ; that the 
community blesses his memory with so unanimous a 
voice ; and that his memory will be blessed by so 
many who will acknowledge the worth of his solid 
services and Christian example ? And does not 
every feeling of tenderness for them who may la- 
ment us excite us to bequeath to them in our 
measure, such as it may be, like cause to bless our 
memories ? Has not the thought some power over 
our feelings, that, when we shall have gone the 



23 

way of all the earth, grateful hearts that appre- 
ciate our honest services, however humble, to the 
cause of truth and goodness, shall rise up, and call 
us blessed ; that when the moss shall have grown 
upon our tombstones, the pensive passenger shall 
bend over them to decypher the modest record, 
and give a blessing before he turns away, to the 
memory of godly, just, and single-minded men ? 
The question whether we may hope that our mem- 
ories will be blessed when we are dead acquires a 
far deeper interest, when we connect it with the 
infinitely important inquiry whether our immortal 
spirits will then be happy, and consider how rea- 
sonable is the belief that the answer to both will 
be the same. If we must leave behind us some in- 
fluence of ours, can we bear to think that, should 
we be allowed to watch its operation in the world 
when we may no longer withdraw or control it, we 
should be forced to see the root of evil we had 
planted shooting out its poisonous branches and ri- 
pening its bitter fruits for succeeding generations, 
that never did us a wrong that we should so wrong 
them ? Is it not a warning thought, that it may 
please God to justify his dealings with us in the 
other world by bringing to our knowledge the 
agency, which, though absent in the body, we still 
exert in this ? And, — if the sentence of human 
justice upon us is so likely to coincide with the di- 
vine, when the partialities or jealousies, the inter- 



24 

ests or passions that gave us in life an undeserved 
estimation, have subsided, — may we not rightly 
blend, in the same hope and prayer, an aspiration 
after that bliss which awaits the perfected spirits 
of the just above, and that blessing that attends 
their venerated memories below ? 




C 219 89 ^-i 







v°-^^ ; 



A A 



^^^**^T^\/ V^^*/ V^^'^*^.^^ " 




•^ ■ 



- ^^^-^^^ » t rv * ^^OTS '^s^cidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

-• ^^3B|!I||II^=I^ ° C' sT" " V//>5k Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 

* fi^HIK^ * ft? <^ " v^--j!^ Treatment Date; 

,^-rj^^ 0^^ \''f^ ^^^jifiJ^fc^AY 1998 



4 CU 



tJBBKKEEPER . 

PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, L.P, j 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive L 

Cranberry Township, PA 16"'^'^ 
(724)779-2111 



Q ^ Cranberry Township, PA 16066 

^ * (724)779-2111 



















^^^r 







. . ^ ^ 















^^ N. MANCHESTER. C^ *j^//Z^^^ ^ .^^ Z-'*^" * ' 

^T IN DIANA 46962 J .^.^ « ^ ^W^ .-^ ' **© K 



HECKMAN 111 

BINDERY INC. iB| 
AUG 89 

N. MANCHESTER. 
INDIANA 46962 



HulJBiiiiteaHiT^iSmit ^iiiJB ;afiSnatH^S>»' 







014 012 921 5 



